


Imago maestitiae

by Cain_Nightyard



Category: Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (TV 2006), Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Crack Crossover, Crossover, Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:55:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24030916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cain_Nightyard/pseuds/Cain_Nightyard
Summary: “They want me to influence a boy called Nero. I thought I’d get him interested in music. Improve him.” As usual, Aziraphale was more than happy about his job of making people better, to keep doing good even after he left them by themselves, and Crowley’s cheeks flushed looking at the fond smile the angel made, thinking about his protege, “Couldn’t hurt.” He tried to minimize, becoming conscious of the look he was directing at the blonde, immediately averting it to the cup again.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Nero Claudius Caesar | Emperor Nero/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> After reading the Good Omens Script where in Ancient Rome Aziraphale was supposed to meet Nero (that in Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire is played by Michael Sheen) and seeing the actual Nero episode, my mind just exploded, putting double Michaels and Crowley almost everywhere throughout the scenes, and I didn't want my ideas to just be ideas, so here we are.  
> I know some things I'm going to write but, as long as they're not actually put on paper, I'm still not sure of how they'll come out, so the tags will be updated while chapters come out!  
> \- Just expect a lot of angst, and a lot of struggled Crowley.  
> \- The events in Nero's story are based on the series only with maybe other (history canon) few things added in benefit of the plot.
> 
> \-----
> 
> I kept the dialogues invariated from the script (except, of course, for the final sentence).
> 
> My first language isn't English so I apologize in advance for the errors!  
> Please enjoy!

This time, he was a little bit upset.

He usually used to walk into an already started disaster just to pick up the ripe fruit of human evil, report it to his superiors as one of his marvelous works, and get lots of rewards and days off as a compensation. But not this time. This time it was a matter of pride, even for him.

Crowley knew he wasn’t some kind of great evil demon, but at the same time, he was very proud of the cleverness that made him look like one down in Hell. So, when he went to meet the target of his temptations just to see his ideas be outsmarted by that man, he got terribly angry: Caligula always found his advices ‘ _boring_ ’ or even ‘ _stupid_ ’, making fun of his ‘ _spiteful childish_ ’ ideas, just to come out with worst ones, too wicked even for a demon. That’s why he left the Emperor by himself, waiting for his time to end just to return to Hell and talk about his work like one of Crowley’s, get rewarded and all of that – who’s the smarter one now, huh?

But still, being laughed at by an insignificant human, when even the greatest Dukes of Hell deeply respected him, made him upset.

Even when he coincidentally met Aziraphale, it took some time for him to cheer up.

Crowley was sitting all by himself and ordered some wine, trying to make his mood lift, when a familiar voice reached his ears, “Crawley? Crowley?” the angel immediately corrected himself, “Fancy running into you here!” he said while walking towards him; the too-casual tone Aziraphale used made Crowley think – or hope? – that their meeting wasn’t so casual after all: maybe the angel sensed him nearby and willingly went after the demon but didn’t want it to be obvious, maybe just like the redhead himself did everytime he ran into him, maybe…

While distracted by these thoughts, the demon absentmindedly drank his wine without giving any kind of answer, the white figure sat right next to him, nervously eyeing him before trying again to start a conversation that the demon didn’t seem to want; “Still a demon, then?” he clearly didn’t know what to say and, seeing the annoyed look Crowley gave him, immediately regretted talking without thinking first. “What kind of a stupid question is that? ‘ _Still a demon?_ ’ What else am I going to be? An aardvark?” okay, maybe it came out a bit too harsh than he wanted, and the hurt gaze Aziraphale gave him made the demon feel ashamed… after all it wasn’t his fault if Crowley was in such a bad mood. “Just trying to make conversation.” the blonde answered, a bit resented, “Well, don’t.” Crowley immediately replied, this time using a different tone, more of an advice for the other to stay away from him while he was this moody, not a way to be hateful and hurt him even more with his words.

The redhead felt awfully relieved noticing that his friend didn’t leave him yet, but was instead sitting in complete silence, waiting for him to calm down and – even considering Crowley’s manners – enjoying the demon presence next to him.

After a while, in which Crowley tried his best to leave aside the bad thoughts and return to his usual self, he cleared his throat and sighed, before turning towards the angel, “Cup of wine?” he offered in a kinder voice, trying to make up for his previous behavior, and asked the bartender for another cup for Aziraphale before getting an answer, pouring the wine for him and pushing the cup to his side of the counter, expectantly waiting for the angel to accept that form of apology.

Crowley felt huge relief when Aziraphale took the cup and instead of just drinking, he kindly smiled at him, making his heart flutter. “Salutaria!” he cheerfully said and while the demon raised his cup in response before drinking again, the blonde just brought it to his lips, keeping it slightly aside; encouraged by the better behavior Crowley seemed to have now, “In Rome long?” he added before taking his own sip of wine whilst waiting for an answer. “Just nipped in for a quick temptation.” The demon managed to say quite nonchalantly before drinking again, “Tempting anyone special?” Aziraphale asked swallowing more wine without noticing Crowley frown as that topic kept going, but the wine and – of course – the angel’s company had eased him. “Emperor Caligula.” he sighed, still a bit frustrated “Frankly, he doesn’t actually need any tempting to be appalling. Going to report it back to head office as a flaming success.” Saying that out loud raised his spirits: he found Aziraphale even in Rome and just had to wait for a job being done by that man, so he had to be around for some time, be around in the same city Aziraphale was, without anything to do… that was a fluke after all! The redhead smiled at the angel “And you?” just curious, just testing the waters to know if they could actually be together. “They want me to influence a boy called Nero. I thought I’d get him interested in music. Improve him.” As usual, Aziraphale was more than happy about his job of making people better, to keep doing good even after he left them by themselves, and Crowley’s cheeks flushed looking at the fond smile the angel made, thinking about his protege, “Couldn’t hurt.” He tried to minimize, becoming conscious of the look he was directing at the blonde, immediately averting it to the cup again. Feeling a bit too much observed, and not hearing Aziraphale talking anymore, he kept the conversation going as casually as possible, still waiting before looking at the angel again, “So, what else are you up to while you’re in Rome?” at that, Aziraphale started talking about a famous restaurant, his gaze lit up as usual when he talked about food-related things, looking even happier than when that guy Nero’s topic came up.

At the end of their conversation – and of their wine – a casual comment made by Crowley about never have eaten oysters, granted him an invitation at the restaurant Aziraphale was talking about.

Even though he wasn’t interested in food like his friend was, the oysters were quite delicious, he had to admit, and between a bite and another, the redhead started asking more questions about the angel’s job to know how much time it would have kept him away; after asking a few questions turning around the real matter, and receiving vague answers, the demon said it more directly, embarassed as Hell.

Blushing, Aziraphale swallowed his last oyster and slowly wiped his hands and lips with a white cloth before looking at the demon and cautiously saying “Well, as long as you don’t interfere, you can come with me, if you like.”


	2. Chapter I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied.  
> I said that maybe there would have been a "few" things there weren't in Nero's episode... I said it just before realizing that when Aziraphale is with him, he's a child and, of course, his episode starts when he's Emperor already, so yeah... there will be two chapters of out-of-episode Nero, but I'm following historical events so they will merge perfectly!

“Four years old?! You didn’t tell me the boy is four years old!” “Crowley, my dear, please stop shouting, we’re almost there!” Aziraphale looked nervously around, hoping no one heard his friend.

While walking to the house where Nero lived, still pleased for the oysters and all the wine, the angel began to talk more about the boy and the kind of work he wanted to do on him, just to make sure Crowley was more or less prepared of what to expect from that first meeting, and of course to warn him so that he wouldn’t hamper Aziraphale’s duties.

The demon liked humans, was fascinated by them just like Aziraphale was, but children were a little different… he liked them too of course, finding them pretty amusing, but they were unpredictable, he didn’t know what they thought, what they were going to do just the moment later, and what worried him the most… children could sense him. Of course, a few of them were able to sense his not-bad-intentions too, but not all of them did; they used to stare at him quite persistently, focusing all the attention of the people around on him, making him feel uneasy…

“Welcome Mr. Aziraphale!” … it was too late now to just run away from that situation, wasn’t it? A bit reluctantly, the demon took two steps ahead to be at Aziraphale’s side, trying to look as casual and perfectly relaxed as possible while the servant intentively looked at him to decide if he could enter the house or not; “I didn’t know you would’ve brought someone else with you.” “He’s a friend of mine, he is… going to assist me while I’m tutoring the child.” The angel unleashed his most… well, angelic smile at the man and Crowley was not really sure if the pale light he was emanating was just his imagination, or the blonde was actually _divinely convincing_ the man with not just his words.

After looking at both of them, but especially at Crowley of course, for yet another minute, in the end the servant moved aside, letting them enter the house.

They made a few steps into the hall before Aziraphale had to stop, hitted by something at his legs’ height while the demon kept walking a bit more before noticing it and immediately turning around, alarmed. “Aziraphale, here you are!” an excited voice came from his robes, muffled by the fabric wrapping around the face of a child, who was now freeing himself from the white mass to grab the angel’s hands; Crowley just looked at them, not wanting to interrupt that moment, and also not sure of what to say or do, when Aziraphale lifted his hand to point him to the boy, “He’s my friend Crowley, he’s going to stay with us for today, if that’s ok for you…?” the little Nero turned to face the redhead, all of his attention taken at first by the angel, now completely focused on him.

While just some minutes before all he could do was worry about the child’s opinion of him, now that he could clearly see the boy’s face, Crowley could do nothing more than remain perfectly still looking at him. Nero had a cute upturned nose, huge and bright light blue eyes and full rosy cheeks… he looked exactly like a much, much younger Aziraphale would have looked like if he ever would have been a child, except for the hair: it was soft and curly like the angel’s, but dark brown instead of blonde, and, of course, Nero was wearing more colorful clothes than just plain white ones.

The kid kept looking at him without moving his body from the protection of Aziraphale’s clothes that were shielding him - just like the angel would have done with his wings - he didn’t say a word, just stared at Crowley, tightening his grip on the fabric when he felt Aziraphale move his legs, even though it was just to change position. He wasn’t really scared by some kind of evil demonic aura, but growing up in the environment his vicious family made up around him since he was born, he was always suspicious towards new faces; the fact that Crowley’s features were sharper than the blonde reassuring figure, his eyes were totally covered by the black glasses and his clothes were so dark he could barely see the folds, didn’t mitigate his usual lack of trust… quite the opposite.

The redhead got carefully down on his knees to be at his level and properly face him, trying his best to make the kindest smile he could do. “Hello little man, I’m Crowley… do you mind if I stay here for today…?” he tried, wanting to look at Aziraphale for some kind of encouragement, but didn’t, keeping his focus on the boy instead.

And that was it: the time Crowley was so afraid of since he heard about the boy’s age, came. The demon patiently waited for the child to inspect him with that curious, distrustful look of his, he was too distracted by Nero’s appearance and the fear of his judgement to be able to concentrate and show the best aura he could pretend to have, even though that really wasn’t what made the child so afraid of him… “Why are you wearing those?” he pointed at the redhead’s glasses, his suspicious gaze never leaving the demon. Crowley cleared his throat, “I have a special condition, so my eyes can’t stand the light of the day and need to be covered for protection.” “So I won’t be able to see your eyes?” “I’m afraid not.” “Not ever?” He tried, “Never.”

Another thing Crowley didn’t stand about children was their infinite questions about everything and anything, their curiosity, and their strong will of not letting go.

And of course, Nero was no exception: his questions were a lot, some were totally expected and some weren’t, but despite the uncomfortableness that several of them gave him, the demon answered to them all to gain some kind of trust from him, sometimes even telling the truth. As expected that intense session of questions took away a lot of the time in which Aziraphale was supposed to tutor the boy, so at one point – and to Crowley’s big relief – he had to intervene attracting Nero’s attention to himself; to keep the child comfortable and be sure he would still feel safe, the angel lifted him and went to the room they usually used to study into while the demon got up from his knees and followed them, keeping enough distance. The blonde sat on a bench full of pillows, holding the little one in his arms, talking to him in a sweet, soothing tone while distractedly caressing the soft dark curls on his head. Crowley sat a bit far from them, looking at Aziraphale almost mesmerized by both his voice and the way his hands gently moved on the child, grateful that his glasses were covering the glance he was directing at him, that – he was sure of it – was more than embarassing.

From time to time Aziraphale lifted his head to look at him, smiling, making the demon feel like he had a human functioning heart that just stopped working everytime the angel did that; from a window behind the bench Aziraphale and Nero were sitting on, a ray of sunlight passed and pointed straight on the angel, like it was attracted by that beautiful ethereal creature and made him even brighter than usual: his pure white clothes, his almost white blonde curls, his perfectly smooth pale skin, and the smile – more tender than ever because of the child’s presence – the sun surely made that smile brighter…

The redhead got often distracted by Aziraphale’s beauty, staring at him and completely forgetting his surroundings, but he even managed to follow the conversation he was having with Nero, even trying to participate in it from time to time, adding things on topics he knew more about than the angel - but always careful to not be too intrusive and upset the kid. Aziraphale was talking about all kinds of art, theatrical perfomances, dance, poetry and, of course, music; since he was born, Nero was raised by lovers of art and artists themselves, so he really enjoyed the time spent with the angel talking about all of that and learning new things and new works he didn’t know about, they even began singing together at some point for the child’s pure joy, but not that day.

Nero was now standing in front of Aziraphale with the tiny hands on his knees still grabbing the white cloth, moving it from a side to the other for how energically he was shaking his head, “Don’t you want to sing with me today, my dear boy?” The angel tried to ask again, bending a bit just to be at the same eye level as the kid, “I already said no…” The younger one quickly looked at the corner where Crowley was sitting in silence - he never moved since the moment he entered the room – and then laid an eloquent gaze back on Aziraphale that sighed in defeat; the angel opened his mouth to finally give up, when the demon tried again to smile at the kid before speaking: “I can wait outside and let you two sing, if you want.” He said directly to him in a kind, condescending voice. The child’s face lit up a little bit and, after grabbing more of Aziraphale’s robe in his hands – just being cautious, more protection was always better! –, he turned again towards the demon and slowly nodded, “Thank you, Mr. Crowley…” “Just Crowley is fine, little man.” He responded before getting up and leave the room with a wave of the hand.

Once outside, Crowley went with Aziraphale to another restaurant for dinner, this time not willing to eat but just keep him company. “I’m sorry for how the day went, my dear, in the end we didn’t spend much time together…” “Don’t worry angel, as I already said today, kids are quite difficult for me, so I’m not upset nor surprised.” “Ok, but still… I’m sorry…” Aziraphale played with his food heavily sighing, feeling stared at by the redhead.

They were going back to their respective houses, making the mutual, silent decision to take the longest path before having to part ways. “What do you think of him, tho?” Aziraphale asked out of the blue, breaking the silence that started since they left the restaurant, but Crowley knew exactly who he was talking about, “He’s alright, looks like a smart kid, perfect to be tutored by you. I don’t blame him for having had that reaction, I mean… beside the ‘demon matter’, it shouldn’t be easy to live with that kind of background… take good care of him, angel.” The angel wanted to add more but didn’t want to annoy him, so he just limited himself to say “I’m glad you like him too, thank you for today, Crowley.” and waved goodbye before going back home.

The days went by and they always found time to be together, the only moments they weren’t were while Aziraphale was with Nero; Crowley took advantage of those hours to sleep, go around the city finding the best restaurants to bring the angel to and, sometimes, to check on Caligula’s progress. The Emperor was doing great, his awful deeds kept growing getting worst from day to day, assuring Crowley that a great reward was waiting for him in Hell when all of that would have gone to an end.

The angel was making sure to avoid as often as possible the _Nero topic_ , but when something escaped his lips, Crowley – who wasn’t really so bothered by that day’s events - was more than happy to give some advices, to politely ask how his job was going and to know if the boy’s health was ok as ever.

Neither of them knew, but Emperor Caligula was Nero’s uncle so, in a certain way, their jobs were meant to collide, sooner or later. Lately, when Crowley went to check on the man, he sensed that something was going on behind his back, but that didn’t really surprise him, it _had_ to happen at some point: betrayals, lies, murders… those were some kind of traditions in an Emperor’s life and, of course, Caligula made no exception. Crowley hoped who was behind those plots could have worked faster, freeing him from that burden; he didn’t care so much about those conspiracies, quite the contrary, until that evening.

As odd as it could sound, that evening the angel didn’t pay attention to the food. After a couple of bites he put the fork on the table, looked at the plate with a sigh and lifted his gaze to Crowley; “Oh my dear, I’m so worried…” he finally exhaled. “What happened, angel? You were so light-hearted just this morning… is it… did something happen to- with the boy?” the demon asked in a soft voice, patiently waiting for Aziraphale to answer, not pressuring him, “Something is happening, is about someone from his family, that guy Caligula you had to tempt… an astrologer predicted his death and the environment in the house is getting… restless. I don’t like it.” Aziraphale put the arms on the table and entwined his fingers, nervously twiddling the thumbs. “I… that’s about my job, maybe I can do something to help…?” without a second thought, Crowley put his hand on the angel’s squeezing a bit to reassure him, he didn’t move them away from the touch, but didn’t seem too relieved by those words, “Thanks, but I don’t think you can. They’re not troubled in a bad way, they look happy about it. I shouldn’t say this but… I don’t care. What truly bothers me is that this kind of behavior can damage Nero, seriously damage him.” the sadness in his eyes was accentuated by their clear color, making the redhead even more worried for his friend.

They remained silent for a long time.Their hands still touching in a weak attempt to take strenght from the other, until Aziraphale had an idea: “What if I take him with me?” at the strange look the demon made, he quickly specified “I’m not kidnapping him! Just tutoring him outside of that house and take him back home to sleep, so he won’t be affected by the others, what do you think?” Crowley smiled, “That’s a great idea, angel. You just have to convince… the whole household.” “Don’t worry my dear, I will.” Aziraphale’s smile was even wider.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to truly thank my husband who's doing the beta reading for me, this chapter was longer than the prologue and it took away all his evening, but he still finished it all without pausing... he's a true angel and I don't deserve him ;;


	3. Chapter II

As promised, Aziraphale succeeded in his plan of getting the permission to take Nero away from home for most of the time, there was only one problem… the child had already clearly showed that he didn’t like Crowley, so the demon didn’t know what to do to spend his days with the angel. He didn’t even know which was the best option for trying to help in that situation: give a hand to whoever was plotting the Emperor’s death, to put an end to those difficult moments and quickly wash away every bad influence that could have hit Nero, or go against Caligula’s obvious Fate and save his life, so that the consequences that could ruin the child’s goodness would just disappear all at once?

In the meantime, he kept looking after the man to constantly check on the situation and to report the most relevant details to the angel.

The first time Nero went into Aziraphale’s house, he just couldn’t stay still: it wasn’t too big, but the angel was able to put lots of things in it, and the child wanted to see them all. Carpets, tents, tapestries and painted clay vases, together with the decorated wood of the trunks, made the house look extraordinary full and lively, making extremely easy to spot the full white figure of the angel wherever he was. After looking around in all that mix of colours and patterns, the kid went straight to one of the little beds that was – obviously – covered by a large number of written scrolls and gently handled a few to read their contents while the older one just looked at him, smiling. One of the first things he taught Nero when they met, was how to carefully handle a scroll and enjoy its contents – he already had brought some for him to read before, but there were so many that it wasn’t difficult for the kid to find new ones.

Even with that precarious situation, things were going pretty well. They were still worried, of course, but they managed to keep Nero safe: the kid was happy and carefree, he asked some questions at the beginning, but after a few days he became used to the new way they had their meetings and enjoyed his time with the angel no less than before. Aziraphale used to spend almost the whole day with him, while Crowley helped from behind the scenes. The angel couldn’t obviously leave the kid alone, so, everytime one of them needed something – from food to new materials for their studies – Crowley was more than happy to help him, providing things for them. The blonde always went to receive him at the entrance in the precise moment he was arriving, making Nero think that he could literally sense him getting closer. The demon used to simply peek his head inside the house to say hi, wish him a good day, and then disappear until the next time.

One day, unexpectedly, while Crowley was giving some bags full of new things to his friend, a rather shy voice came from the inside of the house, somewhere behind a colourful pile of fabrics: “… it’s ok if Mr. Crowley wants to come in…”. Not sure if he heard it well, the blonde went closer to the pile, “Are you sure, my dear…?” he asked in a soft voice. Nero came out fully dressed with different layers of cloths on him – it was theatre day, and Aziraphale’s fabrics were great as costumes to improvise characters for their plays! – and, after looking at the demon, he continued to speak. “I know you’re sad because you can’t see him…” he looked pouting at the angel not knowing why, at that sentence, he was blushing so much, “… and it’s because I’m here.”. The older ones awkwardly looked at each other before directing both their gaze at the child, “Won’t that be a problem for you, little man?” asked Crowley as Nero shook his head; he slowly entered the house, one small step after another, “Well, thank you then, really.”. The redhead still didn’t want to make the child uncomfortable, so he thanked him again with a gesture of the head and then – like he did that one time at Nero’s house – he sat in a corner, making himself at ease in that well known home.

The hours went on smoothly: sometimes Nero would look in Crowley’s direction – still a bit nervous – but he managed to act and sing with Aziraphale, just a bit stiffer than the other days when the two of them were alone. When it was time for the angel to take him back home, he took courage and waved goodbye to the redhead.

The next day went smoother than the one before, the third day Crowley had a great idea.

He didn’t bring any bags with him this time, only one big object. After looking at Aziraphale – who encouragingly nodded – Nero went closer, alternately looking at him and the thing he was holding. “What is it?” “It’s a cithara, to play music…” he plucked the instrument’s strings making a brief sound “…see?”, his gentle smile becoming wider when the boy made the last three steps that separated them; the demon kneeled to hold the cithara closer to the kid, who began to touch it too. “I thought this would be perfect to accompany you while you sing, what do you think?” Nero’s eyes grew wider and were basically sparkling, “Yes! Thank you sir!” “No problem kid.”. Crowley made sure that the sound was always in harmony with the child’s voice, making him way more relaxed than before while performing with his presence in the room.

Aziraphale was delighted by how the day went; “Crowley dear, you had the best idea! He was so at ease, so happy!” his eyes expressed so much joy, they almost looked like Nero’s ones when he was looking at the cithara. “I just tried to help, make it less awkward that I was there too. You know, he was right…” the gold slit eyes laid straight on the angel’s, “… it made me sad, not being around you.” Aziraphale averted his gaze to look at the cup of wine in front of him, his cheeks becoming pink.

It really surprised Crowley how excited Nero was of seeing him entering the house with the cithara under his arm, the day after; the boy hurried after him as soon as he crossed the threshold, and, when the redhead found a bed free of scrolls to sit on, he got on a big fluffy pillow nearby to better listen to the music, absentmindedly singing to its rhythm while painting with Aziraphale. The demon played the instrument caressing its five strings – looking at the blonde while doing it was the certain reason why the sounds were coming out so tenderly, like a romantic serenade.

After their paint was finished – and after the redhead complimented it – the kid turned away from his work, following with his eyes the movement of Crowley’s fingers between the strings; “Do you want to try, kid?” the younger’s face brightened, “Can I?!” “Sure, come here…” he slightly moved the cithara away to let the child sit next to him, then held it in front of Nero with one hand, moving the boy’s one on the instrument with the other. Every time they made a mistake, Aziraphale would composedly cover his mouth with the hand, giggling; Crowley limited himself to a light – even satisfied – smirk, while Nero openly laughed of pure joy. That looked – and felt – like they were a family, and that warmed the place where the demon should have had a heart.

Their days were so happy that they temporarily forgot their problems, until it happened.

Aziraphale was looking outside his house, sighing of relief when he saw the demon almost run towards him, “You’re finally here! I was starting to worry, the day is almost over, what took you so long?” he asked basically scolding him but, as soon as he saw Crowley’s face, he fell silent. “Is the boy inside?” the redhead was nervously looking around, his voice as low as possible, “Yes, he’s here.” “Ok, then…” he took the angel’s arm, taking him inside the house.

Nero immediately got up, leaving aside what he was doing to go and greet the demon who ruffled his hair. “Hi little man, that’s one beautiful drawing, keep going!” he smiled at him before snapping his fingers and guided Aziraphale near a closet, “He can’t listen to us, don’t worry.” “Of course I worry! You’re so strange, what happened?!” even though Nero couldn’t hear them, their voices remained low.

“He died…” the angel looked at him confused, and he kept talking, “Caligula, he’s been murdered today.”. Aziraphale brought a hand to his mouth, horrified, and then quickly looked at Nero, “What are we going to do? He can’t be left alone out there, not today, all the citizens will talk…” his voice became high pitched as all his worries were suddenly materializing. Crowley calmed him down, grabbing his shoulders and gently squeezing them; “Angel, don’t worry. We can protect him, we’re together, right?” the blonde silently nodded his head, putting his hand over one of Crowley’s.

They came out with a quite simple plan: Aziraphale would bring the child back home asleep, the demon would then stay hidden near him in his snake form when he awoke, paying attention to what was happening around and, in case, intervening if things didn’t go well.

A few days passed without anything noteworthy happening, so Crowley went back to Aziraphale’s house to reassure him, and say goodbye.

“I’m sorry angel, I have to go… Caligula’s dead, and I have to report it _downstairs_ , remember?” of course Aziraphale didn’t forget, and respected the other’s duties – they were just like his own, only not-that-holy – but he still felt restless, having to deal with that situation all by himself… “I know, dear. Just… come back, please?” and how could he ignore that request, those beautiful begging eyes?

“I’ll come back as soon as I can.” he sadly took his leave, touching Aziraphale’s hand for the last time, wishing that his angel would have been ok, and that the kid would have been safe and keep him smiling – he almost _prayed_ for that.

After Caligula’s death, it was really hard for Aziraphale to have a stable, ongoing good influence on Nero; still, he tried his best, day after day, always. The boy’s life was getting worse as the time went by: it seemed like no one who revolved around him could have something nice to give him.

As the years passed, another tutor was introduced by the child’s mother, so the angel had to take a step back and see him less often, as he became only his art tutor, but being behind the scenes for Nero to reach to him when he searched for a confessor, or just a friendly presence: the boy’s distrust towards strangers became stronger, and Aziraphale had always been a secure, unchanged figure in that chaotic life.

At the beginning Nero used to ask Aziraphale almost every day where Crowley was; he was still a child who found comfort and peace in only a few people and then – without saying anything – one day, one of them disappeared, leaving him sad and hurt.

Like any other day, Aziraphale had a nice walk around the city, ate at a fancy new restaurant, relaxed in the public baths and was now heading back home; he exchanged a few words with the friendly merchants who ran the shop under his house, then went upstairs.

“You look good, angel.” Hearing that voice, the blonde quickly entered the house, dropping the things he bought during the day and rushed towards the demon. “I missed you, Aziraphale.” The redhead said in a warm tone, smiling at the angel and taking off his glasses, making him almost blush for how intense he was looking at him; “Oh Crowley! You were gone for so long… I thought you’ll never come back…” he bit his lip, shyly looking back at him. “I am so sorry, I would have informed you if I could…” he truly missed his angel, his voice… “Please don’t worry my dear, you’re here now, and that’s what matters!” Aziraphale led him to a bed, arranging the pillows to make his seat comfortable. “What held you back for so long? Has something happened?” he worried, but the demon gently caressed his cheek, reassuring “It was only a matter of paperwork, demons are so unorganized…” he sighed, “But let’s talk about you, how is it going? What happened during these years…?” “A lot of things happened, I can’t even recall them all… but despite everything, Nero is still such a good child, you know?” even though he obviously knew Aziraphale was more than capable in his work, a huge weight left him, “I’m glad to hear it, I knew you would have been great with him, angel.” “And he misses you, he will be so happy to see you again!” the blonde smiled at him, and Crowley fondly smiled back.

It had been a bad day for him, one of the several bad days that lately seemed to keep following one another, so he decided – as always when it happened – to escape from his house and go see Aziraphale; “Hello Aziraphale, sorry to disturb but-“ he was going through the threshold and, as soon as he entered the angel’s house, he fell silent: instead of the usual full white figure standing out in that mass of colours, his eyes laid on a much darker one. Crowley was there, standing, black robes, black glasses and all that.

Nero quickly reached the redhead, hugging him tightly. “How are you doing, kid?” Crowley gently patted his hair – he was taller now, so he could do it without having to kneel. “Crowley! I missed you so much!” he was squeezing him harder and harder, as though he didn’t really believe he was there, or to keep him from leaving again.

When the boy let go of him, and Aziraphale arranged some pillows to seat on, he started talking about the reason why he went to see the angel: new people entered into the house and his life, some others left him – and not always in a good, harmless way – and he felt so confused, so scared… “Can I stay here, with you?” he was basically begging with his voice, and with his eyes. “You know you can’t, that would be kidnapping!” the angel answered in the same, whining tone as him, “But they want to make me do things that I don’t want to do… I don’t like it…” the older one looked the other way: he knew that he couldn’t deny him anything, if he just made the terrible mistake of looking into those wide eyes. “Please…” he whispered, looking like he was about to cry, when the demon’s hand ruffled his dark hair, a sweet smile appearing on his face before speaking: “I say you need more help with your arts at home, don’t you think?”.

And so, they went back to Nero’s house almost daily to let him be tutored.

The redhead presence wasn’t a problem since the kid was four, so Aziraphale and Crowley decided, when they couldn’t go together, to switch and tutor Nero individually too; the angel resuming his job to closely look after him and shower him with his good influence. Sure the boy looked a lot more relaxed than before, now that he could see the blonde more often again; in his own small way, Crowley instead tried to take at bay the bad feelings, or to at least avert them somewhere else.

“How long will it take, kid?” Crowley was sitting with his eyes closed, waiting. Nero asked him to do it – “… and don’t try to cheat just because you have those glasses on!” – because he wanted to surprise him; he was starting to complain again, when he closed his mouth, hearing the unmistakable sound of the boy’s steps approaching. He heard him sit in front of him, and before he could ask himself what produced the noise that was clearly not made by Nero’s body, he heard the music and immediately opened his eyes.

Nero was holding a cithara – adorably being too big for him – plucking its strings with the most concentrated expression on his face; the sound wasn’t perfect, but he was learning to play it. After playing a bit, the boy looked up at him, and Crowley clapped his hands “You’re learning!” Nero smiled. “I liked when you used to play it, so I wanted to do it too.” He carefully put the instrument on the ground beside him, “Would you like to properly teach me…?” “Of course kid!” the demon smiled too.

As Nero grew up, he was able to understand new things and use more tools, so they introduced sculpting in their activities, some more different – and less childish – themes in their performing, and probably the most important thing Aziraphale was looking forward to.

Excited, the blonde entered their old study room: he was holding so much scrolls in his arms, it was impossible to see his face; Nero jumped in his seat at the sudden noise the angel made when he put all of them down on the table, “Look what I’ve got for you!” of course the boy had always liked to read, but he didn’t understand all that fuss about it, and his confusion clearly showed on his face. Aziraphale took one scroll and put it in his hands: “You’re sixteen now, you can read even more mature stuff!” the blonde returned at the table, picking some more scrolls, “I waited so long to let you read some of them, I can’t wait to hear your opinion!” and that said, they sat together and started to read scroll after scroll.

After reading for hours, Nero looked at the angel: “Aziraphale… can you teach me how to write poems?” the blonde couldn’t look happier, “Of course my dear boy!” he started talking and talking about the different structures a poem could have, the topics he could choose to address and so on, until they started to write something together as a first try.

The next day, when Crowley joined them, of course they made him read their script, the boy being so hyped by that new activity that the angel and him decided to write something for their next acting practice, while the demon gave them new ideas from time to time.

One year later, at seventeen, Nero became the new Emperor after his stepfather.

Thanks to the angel’s presence in his life since he was little, he was a good, gentle boy, a great art lover who reflected that passion in his reign too. Being helped by his mother and the tutor Seneca with his duties, he still had time to spend with Aziraphale and Crowley – even if a bit less than before – and he absolutely wouldn’t give up on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I wanted to thank my precious angel for being my beta, he always works so hard to help me ;_;
> 
> Be prepared for next chapter, some teen drama is coming!


End file.
